Abeyance
by Rice Buny
Summary: Ciel isn't mad that Sebastian has another master without his knowledge. He doesn't mind, as long as Sebastian continues to serve him. However, when that master turns out to be one of Ciel's kidnappers for a sacrifice, yeah, no, he's burning down every building that damn demon ever set foot in. Forgiveness might not exist in this situation. [M just in case]
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer, I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any of its characters.

So um. Just tell me if this one sucks. And this doesn't really go with any of the story line of the anime or manga, but if I incorporate anything from the manga I'll be sure to explain it. Or just let you guess because I'm just like this.

Why am I so awkward at typing these?

* * *

"I'm fine," Ciel states plainly. "Elizabeth, I told you, I'm fine," he repeats, irritation seeping into his tone as he turns to the blonde relative.

"I told you to call me Lizzy!"

 _"Lizzy_ , I'm fine," Ciel huffs. Elizabeth's animated tone is replaced with concern. She narrows her jade eyes. Ciel sighs loudly. He leans forward on the table, resting his chin on his knuckles. He swivels his sapphire eye to Sebastian, who's standing beside them. One might be concern he'll spread gossip all over, but Sebastian is not the one to meddle with such human's lies, unless if ordered to.

Elizabeth shifts in her seat, the ruffles of her dress tickling Ciel's slender legs when it slightly billows upwards. "Ciel, look, you never told me what happened when you disappeared," Elizabeth mutters, her usual bubbly voice gone, with an adopted, worried tone to replace it. Ciel inhales sharply. He knew this was coming, he sensed it. But that doesn't mean he has a plan to avoid or answer it. "I mean, you've been more quiet after that, and serious," Elizabeth gripes. "If anything's wrong, you can tell me," She confides.

Ciel grins weakly at that with his signature smirk. "I know, Eliz-" Elizabeth's emerald eyes narrow into a glower. "Lizzy," Ciel hastily corrects himself with his drawling tone. "Maybe one day, I'll tell you." Ciel's smirk straightens out, letting a passive expression rest over his face once he decided he handled this situation smoothly. "Now, do you want to go play with Finny? Or maybe Agni and Soma," Ciel inwardly cringes at the thought of those two. Well, at least Soma's childish antics and attitude will match with Elizabeth's.

"But Ciel!" Her shrill, whiny tone startles Ciel, and his concern begins to inflate when just seconds ago, he was able to get rid of it. _What now?_ Ciel stiffens. Please no more questions. "I want to play with you!" Elizabeth chirrups. His hackles lower. This is a common claim that Elizabeth always said. He'll deal with this easily with the huge binder of excuses he had stored in his mind. "And Soma seems very weird," Elizabeth admits. "He...acts like a kid," Elizabeth confides. Ciel snickers, and Elizabeth recoils, possibly offended.

"No, excuse me, I wasn't laughing at you, it's just that I think the same," Ciel admits, and a smile graces across Elizabeth's pale features. Months earlier, Elizabeth turned out to act all bratty and childish for Ciel's sake, wanting to make him feel older, the way he always wanted to. And it helped that she's able to fence. [This is in the manga, just go with it anime people.] "But please, I have some work to do, I'll join with you shortly," Ciel promises. Elizabeth nods, clearly satisfied with his claim, and she steps out of the room in her flowery flats. The moment she exited the room, shutting the door behind her gently, Sebastian slides up next to Ciel, and Ciel scowls, ready for the taunts.

"I never seen this soft side of you, young Master," Sebastian comments. Ciel emits a noise between a warning growl a dog would use and a scoff, causing that damn demon's smirk to spread even wider across his features. "And you handled this quite expertly." Oh, now, compliments are new, as this one didn't have its usual sardonic factor infused with the tone used to say that. "Now," Sebastian's sarcasm drops, ready to settle into business. "A man by the name of Jonah William is coming over this afternoon with his daughter to discuss over merging companies with him."

"Does he have to, I clearly stated over the phone I won't join with his industry," Ciel grumbles, standing up, and he grabs his cane leaning against the table.

"Yes, as it would be rude not to hear him out, as you only talked with him for about three minutes over the phone, which shouldn't be long enough to bicker over his contract." Sebastian responds calmly in his low octave tone. "Now, I assume you already know which industry he owns over, right?" Ciel doesn't answer, just stares at him innocently with one wide azure eye with strands of ebony bangs obscuring bits of it. Sebastian sighs, staring down at him.

Ciel drops his small adopted act, allowing his dilated eye to narrow back into its usual glare. "Why should I care about what he said? And of course I did, I just tried to forget it." Ciel mutters. "Why must he have the contract? My company has more power and it's bigger," Ciel questions this aloud to no one in particular.

"Because he has all the resources you need." Sebastian answers using his fluid tone. Ciel glares at him. He's quite aware of that. "But we do have Lau for that, and even though he's the president of a trading company, Mr. William is bigger. But I doubt we need him, Lau should be enough, and though he's cold-blooded and cryptic, he's usually willing to help us if we benefit him in some way, which I guess is a less costly price than Mr. William, as he probably has some rules and terms in his contract." Sebastian says.

"Yeah, I'm well aware of that," Ciel replies in his dry, flat tone. "When is he coming?" Ciel asks, not out of curiosity, but so then he knows when to escort Elizabeth out.

"This afternoon, within an hour or so."

"An hour?" Ciel sputters, and the passive smile that adorns Sebastian's face curls upwards on one side into a crooked smirk. "Ah, dammit!" Ciel snarls.

"Yes, but you promised Lady Elizabeth that you'd join her," Sebastian points out.

"So?"

"I figure that Lady Elizabeth will be of some help," Sebastian recommends. "She can keep the daughter of Mr. William company," Sebastian suggests, and Ciel ponders over that for quite a while, ending with him agreeing reluctantly to Sebastian's idea. "Great, I shall tidy up the mansion and create a meal for you and Mr. William along with his daughter."

"Sebastian!" Ciel smiles. After all the silent sniggers and scoffs from Sebastian today, might as well allow the emotionless demon to do something else as well. "Make me a chocolate sweet while you're at it."

"Master. It'll spoil your appetite." The usual sadistic tone is now monotone.

"Don't care. Now go!" Ciel barks out his command, leaving him smiling as Sebastian leaves the room.

* * *

"Oh, what are you doing?" Elizabeth skips into the kitchen, curiosity replacing her boredom.

"I'm currently cooking a meal for the Master and his clients," Sebastian answers, whisking something in a metal bowl. Elizabeth skirts around a tall stool pushed against the cabinets, and next to Sebastian. He's beating eggs. His white apron for some reason has various holes, the edges of the tears and lacerations charred black and brown.

"His clients? So...after that, he'll play with me, right?" Elizabeth concludes. Sebastian nods in response, as he begins to start on an entirely other plate, leaving the bowl of whisked eggs to the side. "Okay!" Elizabeth is cheerful at the conclusion. "But..." Elizabeth always realizes something's off. A butler is a butler. Ciel's staff consists of six people, including Bard, the chef. So why isn't Bard in here, helping Sebastian? Why is Sebastian here anyways? "Why isn't Bard helping you?" Elizabeth voices out one of her questions.

"Because he insists on cooking everything with a flamethrower," Sebastian responds dryly. Elizabeth blinks. She recalls the whole castle rattling before, and the smell of ash and burnt entities. Was that Bard? She focuses her eyes on the holes seared in Sebastian's white apron. Well, now she's sure she knows where they came from. "I'm surprised that he figured out how to use an oven," Sebastian adds. She never seen this meaner side of Sebastian, but then again, Elizabeth feels as though this is what Ciel would say.

"Okay. How does six people take care of this whole mansion?" Elizabeth asks. Sebastian sets down the gleaming kitchen knife he used to neatly slice the onion into even sections. He turns to her, his toffee eyes gleaming, as though they themselves are hiding a secret all on their own.

"We're a very special staff," Sebastian answers simply, as he tosses the onions into a metal pot, and the _thunks_ indicate them hitting the metal bottom. Sebastian grabs the two carrots in the tray of vegetables and ingredients on a tray in front of his cutting board, and with a thicker, larger knife, he begins to cut the carrots into thick pieces. "Elizabeth, you know, the people coming over this afternoon, is a man with his daughter. While waiting, you and his daughter could become acquaintances," Sebastian offers.

"Oh, yeah, sure, of course!" Elizabeth agrees. She has a whole collection of friends that she's on good terms with, it'll be fun to meet another girl. "Is she my age?"

"I'm unsure of that," Sebastian responds. Elizabeth doesn't mind. If she's older, they're usually more willing to play with her, as they're happy to meet a younger kid. Of course, some of that find her annoying, but she could always be younger and easier to get along with. And it'll be perfect if the girl is her age. "Now, Elizabeth, excuse me..." Elizabeth steps out of the way across the tiled, polished floors, as Sebastian crouches down to open a cabinet, and he retrieves a pot with various holes punctured into it, acting like a strainer. He shuts the drawer with the toe of his gleaming tar shoes, and sets the pot down, next to the already crowded counter.

"Can I help?" Elizabeth is quite bored. "I never really learned how to cook, Mother always insisted I fence." Elizabeth explains. "And though most of my friends find it peasantry to cook as they always have maids cook, but I don't know, it just seems nice to cook all those cute cupcakes," Elizabeth squeals. Sebastian tosses her an odd look that Elizabeth is unable to decipher.

"My lady, I'd love to, but right now what I'm cooking aren't cupcakes. Later I'm going to bake chocolate cupcakes for Ciel, you can help then," Sebastian offers. Elizabeth nods vigorously. She'd love to, especially if it means they're for Ciel, he'd appreciate them, she's sure! "Okay, for now, you can play with Finny." Sebastian suggests.

"Why Finny?" There's nothing wrong with Finny except that his intelligence is quite low. Sebastian utters something. "What was that?"

"Well, Finny is always so happy to see you," Sebastian explains, his voice louder.

"Oh, well, okay!" Elizabeth chirps, before skipping out the kitchen.

* * *

In reality, the reason why Sebastian sent Elizabeth to play with Finny is to make sure he doesn't catch word of someone coming over, and try to help by trying to weed the garden and accidentally uproot a tree while at it.

"Sebastian!" Sebastian sighs upon hearing his christened name, and he goes off running up two flights of stairs, up into the Master's room. Ciel is sitting at his desk with his hands folded in front of him. "Are you done with my chocolate?" Sebastian inwardly scowls, but remains vigilant.

"No, not yet, my Master." Sebastian admits. "Lady Elizabeth would like to help me on them," Sebastian says. He swallows a laugh as Ciel visibly flinches, his face contorting. "Do not worry, I'll be sure not to have her accidentally poison you or have the consistency and taste be like sawdust," and before his young Master can reply, Sebastian rushes out of the room to complete his meal.

* * *

"Master, they're coming," Sebastian informs. Ciel nods mutely. True to his word, the cupcakes' texture and taste aren't like sawdust, except, maybe even better than Sebastian's regular sweet, small cakes. Maybe it's because Elizabeth helped, and her taste buds are normal, and well, she does know he likes sweet things. Ciel makes a mental note to inform Sebastian of that. A pleasant, muffled chime from below implies that they've made it to the door. "I'll get it," And just like that, Sebastian's gone. Ciel sighs, and decides to stay in his study, after all, he assumes this is where he and Mr. William will discuss over the contract. Then again, they'll have a meal first. Ciel groans, and starts to run down the flights of stairs, and stands to the side, as Sebastian is already talking with two figures below. "He's right there." Sebastian points upwards, and Ciel stiffens, startled that Sebastian is suddenly introducing him. The two figures below peer upwards, and the younger female one waves. Ciel does nothing in response. Ciel slowly walks down the rest of the remaining steps, wishing he brought his cane while at it, and returns to Sebastian's side.

"Ah, Ciel Phantomhive, what an honor to meet you!" Who Ciel assumes is Mr. William.

"I'd say the same thing to you, it's quite an honor to meet the man in charge of such a large trading company," Ciel compliments, his commanding, yet quiet voice contrasting against the loud, bellows Mr. William emits. The lean man smiles at him. Ciel observes him, what an odd man, with his skeletal structure.

"Please, join me in the dining room where we can have our meal, and discuss your terms." Ciel says. The lanky man nods, thanking him various times. The supposed daughter is quite distant. Ciel catches multiple times her staring at him shamelessly with her narrowed orchid eyes. Ciel automatically doesn't like her. her long, ebony hair that hangs around her waist is the same tar color as her father's thinning hair. Why does the man seem so familiar? Did Ciel meet Mr. William at some point in his life? Ciel opts not to gaze at him, as that'd be rude and questions would bubble up. Ciel enters the dining room, where a meal is sitting on the table.

* * *

So. Yeah. Thanks for reading. I guess I'll continue with this.

If there are any other characters from the anime or manga you want me to include, I'll do it gladly. Probably.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Kuroshitsuji's characters or stuff like that.

* * *

Father's orders are very simple, Anastasi is quite aware of that. Find the damn demon. Whatever he means by that. When she questioned his command, he just told her to find anything unusual. They're very simple, yes, but also quite vague, and that infuriates Anastasi. What exactly is she looking for? When she asked her father this as well, he said a demon. Really. After that, she also wondered about his mental well being. It's not like he's not been cryptic like this before.

Anastasi honestly thinks that her father might be slightly crazy, claiming that when he used to work in a black market, they eventually got their hands on this arrogant, whiny boy years ago, and that there was a demon, from what he planned to do with his friends but ended up sick that day, and according to him, his friends brutally slaughtered, with this man picking through their remains, and that man ended up as their butler.

Anastasi thumbs through the files on the desk on the third floor. Just ideas and brainstorms over marketing products. She scowls, nothing useful or 'unusual'. Really, she doesn't know why she agreed with her father to do this. Oh, right, because he's her father. At that thought, her scowl deepens across her porcelain visage.

In complete honesty, she questioned her father's sanity long ago, to the year he came home, bloodied and bruised, with another, taller, graceful man practically carrying him home. They already had a butler at that time, but without even reconsidering, her father fired him, sending him home crying, and replaced it with the willowy man. And whenever Anastasi questioned where he came from, his background, or whoever he worked for, her father always claimed that he never asked. Lie. Her father would never be that reckless with hiring people for such positions, especially as he's in charge of one of the biggest companies.

"Why, I wonder how'd you get up here?" A husky, low octave tone causes Anastasi to whip around, brandishing a knife. It's the butler. He doesn't seem surprised by the sudden appearance of her knife, he just grins back. Getting caught shuffling through the files of his master will ruin her father's reputation if word gets out, and the consequence from that will be directed onto her. And that she was going to assault a very important person's butler with a knife, she's pretty sure it's not even sharp. Oh yeah, the knife point is dull.

"Oh, look, a young girl armed with a butter knife." Anastasi flushes at his observation. A butter knife is easier to hide within the ruffles of her dress, as it doesn't have a sharp blade to cut through her layer dress. To be fair, she didn't think that anyone would notice her stealing a butter knife from the dining table. "Now, Lady Anastasi. I wonder how my master will respond to this?" Anastasi's arm trembles, causing the knife she thrust out at the end of her hand to quiver. If she does try and attack, which would be a completely idiotic move on her part, her aim would be wry and the damage she'd try and cause would be minor, as her arm is feeling quite weak and numb from fear, she wouldn't have the strength to attack on anyways. If he tells Ciel...

"Well, scurry along, as long as he never asks, I'll never tell," Anastasi stares at him, her jaw unhinged. "May I also have young Master's eating utensil back as well?" The butler smiles as he stretches out his gloved hand.

"T-Thank you for not telling, and I'm sorry for taking the knife, and I'm very sorry for being up here, I just got bored," Anastasi stammers as she places the silverware into the palm of the butler, and his fist closes around the handle before dropping it into the pocket of his suit. Then she dies a little inside, all the relief of not getting in trouble vanishing as she identifies her mistake, perhaps she shouldn't have said that last part of her being bored, after all, wouldn't that be considered offensive as it makes her seem that she finds the host's mansion lacking activities and fun?

"Ah, well, boredom is what leads you to trouble, Lady Anastasi," the butler that Anastasi recalls introducing himself as Sebastian inclines his head. "Now, please leave the master's study." Anastasi, glad for his kindness, staggers out the room. Then, something that irritated her during their conversation reveals the source of its annoyance. _'Boredom is what leads you to trouble,'_ is that a common phrase among butlers? Because that's what father's butler, Michael, would say.

* * *

"I guess I won't tell Master William. But Master Ciel must hear of this later on," Sebastian murmurs as he straighten the files littered across young Master's mahogany desk. That's right, he also has to replace the silverware that Lady Anastasi stolen. What a troublesome girl.

* * *

The moment the father and daughter stepped out of his building, Ciel is able to vent out his bottled up irritation and annoyance at the shut door, screaming his frustration at the ivory-painted door. "Young Master," Ciel waits for his string of vulgar and colorful language to finish until he addresses who he guesses is his butler, judging by the voice used to say his title his staff uses.

 _"What?"_ Ciel whips around, his eyes, including the one obscured underneath his eyepatch, narrowed at his smiling, unfazed butler. "That scoundrel! Bastard!" Ciel bristles, his shoulders arching upwards.

"You know, I think this is the first time I ever met someone who was able to get such a reaction from you, even I don't think I ever got such a response from you." Sebastian grins, blinking, innocently. Ciel's ready to command for his butler to die, if such thing was actually possible.

Ciel loudly scoffs. "There was Grell." Sebastian continues without pausing after allowing Ciel to talk.

"But Young Master, earlier, I found Lady Anastasi in your study. She's also quite an amateur with knives, by the way she held such a beautiful object," Sebastian pulls an entity from the pocket sewn to the front of his suit, and it flashes underneath the light beamed from the chandelier above them. Ciel raises an eyebrow a the butter knife he recovered. Is this where Sebastian keeps his knives? Does he just go around walking with one in his pocket all day? "Such a calm reaction from the young Master?" Sebastian voices out his own question.

"Well, I expected that you humiliated her and sent her off worried," Ciel responds. Sebastian's smile falters, and suddenly, Ciel's nonchalant attitude is engulfed by suspicion from the lack of answer from his butler. "You did, didn't you?" Ciel asks skeptically, his faded anger starting to stir.

"You know, Young Master, I am surprised that you held a grudge against Master William because of his insufferable terms and arrogance that you usually have as well-" Ciel emits a snarl at that. "But not against his young daughter for being up in your office." Sebastian finishes. Ciel's jaw pops forward, indicating his botheration.

"Sebastian did you or did you not punish Lady Anastasi?" Ciel articulates every word to signal his rapidly decreasing patience from Sebastian's obvious stalling.

"Of course not." Ciel however, doesn't react angrily to that. Rather, the intuition that Ciel continues to cling onto expands. "It would be rude to hit a guest, especially a lady, for that matter," Sebastian explains himself. His words, rather than deflating Ciel's suspicion, it causes it to rise. What's Sebastian getting at?

Ciel stares at his butler, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion. "Sebastian, you hit Soma before, and he was a guest, and he was a royal for that matter." Sebastian continues to smile. "Why didn't you punish her? You are brutal whenever it comes to you having to serve someone their consequence." Ciel begins to rant either out of disbelief or confusion, he doesn't know. "Like with Lady Sulliven, she eavesdropped on us and you clearly enjoyed showing her up. And you were frustrated over the way she ate things, because it wasn't appropriate the way she did. Of course I agreed with you on that, but you just let Lady Anastasi go? You didn't even try to embarrass her once?" Ciel stares, dumbfounded at his butler. This is a whole new personality. From what Ciel knows, Sebastian never withheld himself from dishing out punishments faster than Bart can actually break dishes and shatter his plates.

"I didn't want it to seem as though Young Master is a rude and cruel on, even though that might be the truth." Then, to Sebastian's surprise, Ciel walks up to him.

"Bend down." Ciel commands. Sebastian blinks, and Ciel is inwardly satisfied at startling his butler. Sebastian slowly bows downwards, and then, Ciel places the back of his hand against his translucent forehead. "So. You're not sick." Ciel removes his hand, and gestures for his butler to stand back upright, leaving Sebastian slightly confused from his previous action. "And for a moment I thought maybe you were under the weather or was sick. I guess it's to be expected that you're healthy, as I doubt demons can be sick now that I think about it," Ciel stares back up at Sebastian. "Is there an actual, logical reason why you didn't decide to at least give her a talking to?" Ciel demands.

Sebastian pockets the knife that Ciel forgotten that he still has in his gloved hand. "Well, I actually didn't scorn Lady Anastasi for her behavior," Sebastian starts out slowly. Ciel tilts his head, implying for him to continue. "And of course there's a reason. But I wonder, why are you so curious on this subject?"

"To see my emotionless butler to treat a guest kindly will of course intrigue me." Ciel explains. "It's quite interesting, and why are you not directly answering my questions? All your responses are very vague," Ciel observes.

Sebastian just continues to smirk. "Are you saying that you're too oblivious to figure out the conclusion?" Ciel glares at Sebastian, which he guesses isn't very intimidating, as he's quite ah...short compared to the elegant, willowy butler.

The beautiful vase adorned with roses sprouting out of it captures Ciel's attention. His gaze continues to stray over to the masterpiece. He feels it'd be even prettier if he cracked it over his butler's head. "Damn demon!" Ciel swats the back of his hand against Sebastian's shin, figuring that the moment for physically abusing his butler would be over if he tried to retrieve the vase, so he settles with just cracking the back of his knuckles against him.

"Such a shame you're too short to actually smack me on the cheek."

"Sebastian!" Ciel hisses, ignoring Sebastian's verbal jab. "Are you saying that you're not going to tell me unless if I order you to?" Sebastian's unresponsive, grinning, stupid face answers Ciel's question without him ever uttering an actual verbal response. "Actually, you know what, I'm not even mad." Again, Ciel's lips twitches into a smirk as satisfaction appears once more from Sebastian's shocked expression. "After all, it's none of my business, maybe you're just being the kind butler you are. Besides, I imagine at least your appearance gave her quite a scared and she probably won't come up here again." Ciel shrugs, glad to get the last sentence.

"So you're stating that I'm kind?" Oh. Damn. He didn't get the last sentence.

Ciel eyes the vase once more.

* * *

"Michael." Anastasi calls for her father's personal butler. Yes, technically, he's off-limits to the rest of the family and is supposed to serve her father only because of his position, but the rest of the family continues to call him over for their problems. "There was this other butler at the Phantomhive estate." She continues as Michael enters her room, his gentle footsteps muffled by the carpet underneath alerting her of his presence. She sets down her two flashy knitting needles. "And the weird thing is, he kind of looks like you. Even has a very similar voice, but he seems nicer, because he let me go when I uh..." Anastasi realizes that she just cornered herself into having to tell her butler what she done, or something equally humiliating so that it propels her point of the butler's kindness. "Something bad," Anastasi fidgets sheepishly, and she glares at the smirk that stretches across her butler's face. "And he even said something that you always say," Anastasi adds.

Michael seems to ponder over his response, before replying. "And why does that bother you?" He questions. Anastasi flops on her bed.

"I'm just curious," She grumbles defensively. "I mean, it's just...a really weird coincidence. Like, he's really tall like you, and really skinny. But he's pale as well. You're just tan. His hair was black," she recalls his dark, ebony bangs that caste shadows across his equally dark eyes. "But other than that, you guys could pass off as siblings with a different mother. You guys kind of sound alike as well," Anastasi adds. "I mean, it's really weird." She waits for Michael to say something in return, but he doesn't. Anastasi tears her eyes from her ceiling, and sits up, ready to continue her conversation with Michael, only to have her mouth remain hanging open. Michael is nowhere in her room. He must've left hearing a command from her father, after all, he has more control over the butler than she has. However, he could've said something, instead of leaving her deadpanned and dumbfounded like an idiot. She purses her lips from irritation.

* * *

The demon waits for Master William to say something. He inwardly sighs. Why bother to call him over if he's just going to drink a glass of wine and ignore him for minutes? Finally, Master William sets down the glass drained of the wine, revealing his graying mustache to be stained a dark orchid. Michael refrains himself from just leaving the room at this minute. "Okay, after I met you, just poking through bodies, and you offered me a deal, I have a question, why me?"

"Your soul just seems delicious, especially because of your status."

"And...you're sure that it's a demon that killed the remaining number of my fellow friends from the black market?" The demon mutely nods. While he doesn't care about his masters other than their souls, he honestly prefers Ciel over this arrogant man. While Ciel is also foolishly blind of how high he holds him as well, at least he can continue to mock him of his physical height. "Do you think that the demon is somehow connected with Ciel?" Master William finally blurts out.

"Perhaps" The butler says.

"Was it a demon who killed them?" There are times when this particular demon regrets vowing to never lie.

"Yes."

"Ciel has to know something about this demon. Anastasi told me she found nothing out of the ordinary-" The demon refrains himself from smirking. "Tell me, do you have information about whether or not Ciel has anything to do with the demon?"

Again, there are moments when he seriously wonders if the oath against lying is worth it. "Yes, I do." He honestly prefers to keep his two masters apart, too troublesome if they both have the knowledge that they share a butler. Master William gestures for him to continue. "Ciel...and this demon do have a contract together." Finally, he decides to ask a question of his own. "Forgive me for asking, but what do you gain from knowing this demon, and why does it matter so much?"

"Phantomhive's company is the only other company that I have competition against, after all, somehow, probably with the help of his demon, they're good enough to earn the Queen's Seal. The thing is, eliminating Ciel, is actually for revenge. Getting rid of his company is just a bonus." Now, this dark creature is interested in whatever this man has to say. "One of the people the demon killed, one of his kidnappers, is actually my wife. I'm guessing that Ciel ordered his demon to kill them. He murdered my wife!" He slams his fist onto his desk, and the glass wineglass teeters on its base. How rash. It's more justice, the demon thinks, for Ciel's kidnappers to die. The demon does recall murdering a female with a masquerade mask. It was the only female kidnapper, he's quite sure he knows which victim of his he murdered is Master William's wife.

"Why did you not order me to kill him before?"

"I wasn't sure of it, and I only figured this out last week, remember?" The demon remembers. What a slow human, after being his butler for three years, he has yet to consider Ciel, one of his kidnapped children, the only one to survive, to actually be connected. Master William is clearly not one of those intelligent humans. "And besides, I want to make sure Ciel knows why he's killed, because then it's just a regular murder, isn't it? He'll never know why he died. He's going to die so then my dear wife could be avenged." _Yes, the dear wife that happens to also to love snatching little children away_ _and selling them on the black market,_ the demon thinks sadistically.

"So, tell me, the demon is definitely with Ciel?" Master William snaps. The demon nods. He'd love to lie, if he hadn't vowed to never lie. "Are you sure that Ciel killed my wife?"

"Well, it's more of the demon that did so."

"Yes, but don't you realize how there're so little people that act as a staff that helps out in such a big building? A demon would explain how the building is completely repaired after me and John set it on fire." Oh, so maybe he isn't as slow as the demon suspected. "We attack them at midnight?"

"Forgive me, but is that not a little rash?" The demon clears his throat. Now, if Ciel was to recognize him, or call for him, things will definitely get nasty. The demon is now frowning upon this plan. "After all, if Ciel does have a demon it'll be quite hard to actually reach his room," The demon points out. Then, he stiffens. Reaching the demon's ears, are the very familiar cries for him. _'Dammit where is that demon?'_ Oh, it seems that Ciel wants his warm milk with honey. The demon waits for Master William to finish.

"No, no, not at all, I trust that you'll do better. Now, go along, I'll call you when we leave." The moment the demon leaves the room, he leaps out the doors that he thrust open.

* * *

Ciel scoffs, staring at the unbuttoned pajamas he slipped on. Of course he isn't going to button them up, that's his butler's job. Sebastian's either always on time, or just seconds late.

"Where were you?" Ciel hisses as the door to his room nearly flies off their hinges as the demon bursts in.

"Oh, just handing things," Sebastian smiles. Ciel glowers at him. He continues to smile as he bends down to button up the silk clothes.

"So...Finny?" Ciel concludes. Sebastian doesn't answer, as he tugs the hem of his shirt, to straighten out any wrinkles, even though he's about to be placed in bed. "If it was Bard, I would've smelled smoke. Oh, was it Mey-Rin?" Ciel continues to ask, despite the drowsiness settling in.

"Go to sleep, Young Master." The lights dim, before darkness engulfs him, leaving the little boy falling into unconsciousness underneath his rumpled bed sheets.

* * *

Yeah this one is kind of short. Oh well! So, I have no idea how to continue this story. The first chapter I was like, okay, this should be okay, but right now, I'm just like, how do I propel this story forward?


	3. Chapter 3

I'm quite aware that I haven't updated in a while. Please don't kill me.

I re-uploaded this, after rereading it and realizing that some of it doesn't make sense. Like the cupcakes and the fact that Mr. William turned into Mr. Williams. Sorry, it was one in the morning, and I couldn't sleep, so I decided to type this up. Of course it was crap, so yeah.

Disclaimer I don't own Kuroshitsuji or any of its characters.

I also hate it when OCs like, end up with the good guys. But if they're bad guys, I'm totally down with it. So yeah, Anastasi isn't going to end up riding on an unicorn with Ciel into the sunset, because no, she will not get a happy ending.

* * *

"Father, think about this," Anastasi struggles to remain composed. Who's ever heard of such a girl to talk back to her father? Certainly not her, and yet, here she is, acting undignified by arguing with her father. "We can't just barge into Master Phantomhive's manor," Anastasi tries to reason with him, yet, she knows that her father isn't the most...listening nor brightest type. She'll keep that part to herself.

She flinches as her father rounds towards her from his chair, glaring at her with a droll expression. "We have Michael to help us," he answers. She knots her lips, she's quite tired of his 'excuse'. Yes, Michael is a great butler, but he's no fighter, no matter how good he is at the skill of silver cutlery. "He'll get us through. Now, you keep on bickering with me and I'll make sure you don't come with us!" Anastasi deliberately causes the door to slam shut as she storms out of the room, yet, her eyebrows have puckered together from worry. Oh, she sure hopes her father doesn't ban her from coming along with him and Michael. She just worries for her father's safety, that's all. She's unsure of the main reason why he's planning on burning down Phantomhive's mansion, except that he's a competitor. Yet, it's still a bold and risky move for him if this said action is found out. Why doesn't he bring guards, or actual fighting people, rather than a butler?

What the hell is her father thinking?

* * *

Ciel rests the underneath of his chin onto his knuckles, as he watches Elizabeth leap through his doorway, and balanced on her hands, is a platter full of cupcakes. "Elizabeth, what is the meaning of this?" Ciel sighs, shifting in his seat, as he resists the temptation of just snatching for one of those pastries. The smell of chocolate tickles his nose.

"Sebastian and I made you cupcakes!" The said demon tilts his head, with his neutral expression in acknowledgement to her words, as though confirming that she didn't accidentally stir in rat poisoning instead of sugar. "And call me Lizzy!" She protests, her animated tone darkening, as though threatening him to do so, and Ciel just rolls his eyes in response.

"Didn't you already make me cupcakes earlier?" Ciel inquires.

"Yes, but we improved!" Elizabeth nods furiously. "Trust me, it tastes better!" Elizabeth gripes. "Try one!" She returns to her bubbly voice, shoving the porcelain plate towards him, and waving one of the chocolate cupcakes in front of him. Ciel sighs, and calmly takes it from her hand, instead of just snatching it as he would've done with Sebastian. "So?" Elizabeth squeals. Ciel exhales once more, before sinking his teeth into the moist cake. It's heaven. He wolfs down the remaining portion of the cupcake. "How was it?" Elizabeth giggles madly, making Ciel want to scoff, but he swallows the food in his mouth before doing so.

"Well," Ciel begins. "I think," he makes sure to meet the eyes with his sadistic butler standing next to the door frame. "That Sebastian might have his work cut out for," Ciel averts his eyes to clap with Elizabeth's jade ones. "Eliza-Lizzy," Ciel stammers to correct his fiancee's supposedly christened nickname. "Your cupcakes might be better than Sebastian's," he begins to regret claiming so, as Elizabeth tenses up, clearly shocked by all the adrenaline, excitement, success, and possibly a lot of sugar running through her blood stream. It's true though, Elizabeth happens to love sugar and sweet things like Ciel, so she probably decided to add way more sugar than Sebastian would ever consider. His butler refuses to add too much sugar, claiming that it'll spoil his appetite and it's unhealthy for his 'already small' body like his. "Now, if you excuse me, I have to check on Bard," Ciel stands up in his normal regal position, and walks out of his office. In reality, he's sure that Bard is just fawning over his flamethrower or something stupid like that, but he just doesn't want to be tackled by one of Elizabeth's surprisingly strong hugs.

* * *

Sebastian follows his master out the door. "Sebastian, did you try to prevent her from adding so much sugar?" Ciel asks his butler. Sebastian did, but, Lady Elizabeth insisted on this amount.

"Yes, of course, Young Master." Sebastian admits.

"Well, you should learn a thing or two from her," Ciel says, leaving his butler stunned. Stunned isn't actually the appropriate feeling, but it's the correct adjective for him, as he's just standing there. Sebastian sighs, hearing the faint calls of his name. He throws open the windows of this hallway, being sure to shut them behind him so that a draft doesn't enter the second floor, and he leaps down into Young Master's yard. He finally dashes over to William's Mansion.

"What took you so long?" The demon doesn't answer to his arrogant, older master. In complete honesty, he underestimated Ciel. He didn't think that such a boy with such ambitious goals would last this long. Of course, he'd never confess to Young Master about this, but it's true. The only reason he took up with Master William's cry for help and offer, is mainly because he's a noble so his life should be interesting, and because he didn't think that Ciel would persevere through all of this. "Never mind, within an hour, we'll go to Phantomhive's manner, and find the demon and Ciel, killing them both!" Master William clenches his fist, as though to emphasize his ambition, when to this demon, it just seems cliche and redundant.

"Affirmative," said demon says dully.

It would be so troublesome if Master William found out about his identity. While Ciel might be forgiving, he definitely order him to die on the spot if he found out that he's working with the bandits that got him into these troubled years of his life.

* * *

Ciel snuggles deeper under his inflated blankets. He stirs in his sleep, yet, never fully waking. A sudden sharp sound of something breaking causes Ciel to sit upright in his bed, and quickly, by his impulsive nature, grab the pistol with the cocked pistol out from underneath his pillow. His mind is still cloudy from his recent sleep, and darkness shrouds his adjusting eyes. He's unable to see what's going on. Finally, his eyes focus on a somewhat petite outline of a figure near a window. The rays from the moon stream through what's obviously a broken window in his room, reflecting off the glass fragments on the floor. Ciel's unable to fully label this person, even though he or she seems familiar in his eyes. He reaches over, yanking the cord to the lamp on his bedside table, and light flood the room from this small lamp.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ciel snarls at Anastasi, who's at the foot of his bed, who jerks a glossy gun from the folds of her skirt.

* * *

"What?" Elizabeth yelps as her door slams open. She has not yet sleep, as she'd been doodling in a small sketchpad. Granted, her drawings do not radiant skill nor patience, but her drawings aren't as bad as a six-year old's...hopefully. So as a blonde bursts into her closed guest room, the warm milk she was sipping sloshes down onto her nightgown from her sudden shock. "What's going on?" Elizabeth cannot find it inside of her to direct her anger at Finny, who suddenly burst into her room, despite that he did just break into her room when he's the opposite gender, and she's slightly miffed at the heated drink that spilled upon her silk, simple gown.

"I'm sorry Lady Lizzy!" Elizabeth sighs, the small amount of grumpiness that stirred within her dissipating at Finny's name for her, as she sets her glass of milk to the side.

"It's fine, Finny," Elizabeth replies patiently, and then, she notices his creased features, defined by his concern. "Is something wrong?"

"You must come with me!" Finny yelps, running forwards, grabbing her wrist, and she gasps as she staggers out of her bed, her small sketchbook flying off her lap. "Don't worry, it's just a small burglary, this happens all the time. We wouldn't be waking you up unless if this is very, very, bad," Finny grimaces. _This happens all the time, but this time it's worse? How many times had she slept through one without even knowing?_ Elizabeth's mind zooms back, recalling a couple months ago when she heard a loud rumble in the whole mansion. Did someone bomb the place and she...she didn't even know after being reassured by Tamaki that it was nothing? Wow, Elizabeth slightly admires and worries for her fiance just a little bit more for having to live through this, she muses, as Finny drags her down into the kitchen, where sitting on the marble counter, is a large, green, machine. "What is that?" Elizabeth gasps in wonder.

"This," Bard steps out of the shadow, as though he knew that it would make it seem more dramatic. "Is my flamethrower," oh, so Ciel wasn't kidding about this said machinery hiding within the kitchen cabinets. And she thought that he just concocted these stories just for her. Those tales about Finny yanking trees up in his gardens by their roots can't be true as well, can they? Of course they couldn't. It's physically impossible.

"Who's robbing us?" Elizabeth whimpers.

"No one we can't handle," Mey Rin states, whipping off her round lens glasses, revealing narrowed, lavender retinas.

* * *

This prancing demon already planned all of this out. After all, his whole plan just lays on Ciel shouting out a single order, and he'd follow it. "Michael, find the demon!"

"The demon isn't here, I can't sense him." He smirks, glad that his expression is shadowed by the dimness of this slumbering mansion. He's already hearing his staff...and is that Lady Elizabeth?-in the kitchen, chattering among themselves. The breaking window from him tossing Anastasi up to the window ledge and her shooting the glass panes, and the paced footsteps of Tamaki, no doubt trying to lead the useless yet loyal staff.

"He...isn't?" Disappointment is infused with his other Master's tone. "Fine, then I guess we'll go up to Ciel's bedroom, can you find that area?" Oh, can he find that area where his Young Master sleeps? Is that even a hard question?

"Of course, follow me," the demon says softly, slightly feeling dread stirring within him as they approach closer, and closer to his door. After all, Ciel would no doubt recognize him. It's not that this demon is attached to either of his masters, nor is he feeling guilt or fear for his punishment from whichever master is stronger, but he just hopes that he would be spared of a shouting or lecture from Ciel. They're quite amusing, as he's able to witness the emotionless, cold, young Phantomhive release his verbal wrath, but, it can also be a waste of time, and very annoying after a while. It's as though Ciel knows this, and always stretches out his shouting time just to see him squirm as he cannot raise a hand against his master.

Finally, he opens the door, to find Anastasi and Ciel, both across the room, one sitting in a bed and the other standing, with the barrels of their tiny, harmless (well, harmless to him) barrels of their guns pointed to each other. "Father, I found him," The demon resists a sardonic remark to Anastasi's obvious statement. Her voice is quivering, and her trembling, arched, defensive position implies her fear. Ciel however, is calmer, and holds a much more passive expression, yet, Sebastian has a feeling that right now, he's calculating his odds.

"Sebastian!" Ciel shouts for him. Oh, why hadn't he called earlier? It's as though he's been waiting for the right moment.

"Yes, my Lord?" the demon finally speaks up.

* * *

I promise, that I'll try to post at least once either every two or three days.

I'm one of those people who keeps promises, yet constantly breaks them if they're unimportant to me, even though they might be about my best friends (haha what friends ;-;)


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer, I own nothing of Black Butler.

* * *

"How rude, marching into my room like so," Ciel scowls, his fear melting away as a familiar gaunt figure slides into the room behind Mr. William, who kind of wormed his way into the room without a sound. Anastasi scoffs, and Ciel raises an eyebrow towards the woman, who clearly feels arrogant of herself, judging by the way she inclined her chin upwards. "Now, Mistress, isn't it rude for you to enter a man's sleeping chamber at night?" Ciel smirks as he's able to make out the flush that blossoms around her cheek, bright enough to be visible in the dim room. "Besides, I'm sure that my butler will dispose of you two immediately," Ciel stresses upon his words, and sure, it's not exactly an order, he hopes that Sebastian will just quickly end this. After all, he's quite tired tonight.

"Your butler?" Mr. William laughs, and Ciel is conscious of the gun strapped to his belt digging underneath his sagging stomach. "What a coincidence, I happen to bring my butler as well," and to Ciel's shock, he gestures to the lanky figure, still hidden in the dark. Ah, Sebastian must've taken out the butler already, and upon stumbling over that thought, relief floods over him. Ciel's quite sure that his soul is dear and precious to his butler, that emotionless demon definitely wouldn't allow his soul to slip through his clawed fingers. "We should let them duel it out, isn't that right, Michaelis?" Mr. William smirks. Ciel slightly inclines his head, his eyebrows scrunching together, now, this might just be a coincidence, but is that not the adopted last name of his servant? What an odd one, in deed. Especially that Mr. William places such trust upon his butler to not spill the secret of him attacking him.

Ciel leans forward. He's sure that figure standing beside Mr. William is Sebastian, they both have the same, slender frame, and the wisps of hair implies that it's Sebastian's floppy ebony bangs. However, he's unable to make out anything past that, not even the most visible features. "Sebastian?"

"Sebastian? I'm sure that's my butler, Michael," Mr. William chortles. "Ah, they do look quite similar, don't they?" However, the butler makes no move to reveal himself, and Ciel's positive that it's Sebastian. Suddenly, a sharp sound causes the three of them to look to the side.

 _"So that's who Sebastian looked like!"_ Anastasi's fingers are tapped together, implying that she snapped her fingers. Then, as though realizing she proclaimed that aloud, she blushes once more, lowering her head. "Sorry." She murmurs, her apology directed to her father, most likely, yet, Ciel is unable to skip over this opportunity.

"Apology accepted for breaking into my mansion and try to kill me." A wry smile slides across his milky face, and Anastasi scowls, her blush fading, her eyes narrowing at his sudden supposedly insulting words. "Now, why exactly are you here? I'm sure that this isn't just business between our two companies, or else you wouldn't be so open about this towards me," Ciel sighs, slightly bored. Okay, perhaps this is Mr. William's said butler, maybe Sebastian is handling Elizabeth, all he knows is that as long as his butler continues to serve him and clear this whole ordeal (preferably with two dead humans donated to the Undertaker after tonight-oh, that's right, Undertaker is no longer owning his shop) he refuses to express concern towards this sudden appearance of Mr. William's butler, no matter how odd this might be. "I mean, this must include something personal, am I correct?"

And, just those few words, causes Mr. William's coy smirk to disappear, replaced with harsh features, his face contorting into a snarl. Oh, so his suspicions were correct. Ciel is quite curious with his competitor's motive that led up to his actions. "Do you remember what happened two years ago?"

"A lot of things." Ciel recalls one month...that dark month, yet, there's no real way for Mr. William to know about this, so rather, Ciel doesn't mention so.

"Two years ago, I had a wife."

"Surprised you had one."

Mr. William continues on as though he didn't hear her, yet, out of the corner of his eye, Ciel notes a flash from Anastasi's swift hands-in a very offending shape. Her middle finger is quite long, he notes. "Now, I admit, what we did was wrong, but we were part of this trafficking business, we kidnapped kids, and sold them off," Ciel's mouth goes dry, and for once, his attention's fully captured. Sebastian definitely won't let them taunt him like this if he's actually going to mention that dark month, however he knew about this. "And...you happened to be one."

* * *

Sebastian watches passively as the expression of his young master's face flashes amusement, a quick moment of fear, which is quite rare coming from this young boy, and then, slight concern, yet, it's light upon his features, as his young master struggles to remain passive. Sebastian's hand flares up, pain puncturing into his almost impenetrable flesh. The mark scorned into the back of his hand begins to flare up, and Sebastian glances down, noting how the glow is bright enough to nearly shine through the material of his gloves. How unpleasant. In one fluid motion, he calmly moves the back of his hand towards the small of his back, away from the young master's view.

"However, I was unable to attend when they got their hands on you. But my wife was." Sebastian has a feeling that by now, this young Phantomhive probably figured out the rest, after all, it's obvious something terrible must've fell upon his wife. "And then, the next day when I visited our den, everyone was dead. Even the children within their cages. And my wife." Mr. William's hand is trembling as he twists them together. "She was one of the corpses." Of course, Phantomhive's expression remains neutral and passive, however, Sebastian notices how he leans forward, still slightly twisted within his rumpled bedsheets, clearly intrigued by Mr. William's story, despite his nonchalant gaze.

"Then, I met Michaelis, looking through the bodies. He told me, that it was possible, a demon was there. My stupid partners were always into that supernatural stuff, and apparently, they decided to jokingly do a sacrifice." Ah, now, Sebastian cannot help but savor the reaction from his younger master. True, they're small and insignificant to another's eye, however, Sebastian, the one who's always been by the boy's side, finds that small motions from said master quite interesting. He smiles as the younger master shifts within his bed, as though uncomfortable by Mr. William's words, and he even recoils slightly. "And, well, it comes to our knowledge the demon that could've killed my wife could possibly be with you now."

"Demon?" Of course, Mr. William didn't make his words clear, he never mentioned that the demon killed anyone, he must've immediately set his mind that Ciel must be the one that ordered for his wife to be killed-he could be wrong, but Mr. William is strongheaded like that. "Are...are you okay?"

"Father, what are you talking about?" Anastasi lowers her handheld pistol. "I thought we were here for political business," the stubborn female snaps.

"Daughter, I'm sure that Ciel and his personal demon killed my wife!"

"What?" Anastasi scoffs. "You know what, I really think we should just go home. Or not, as Mister Phantomhive will probably tell everyone. Let's just quickly finish him and go! Don't start jumping into conclusions!" her jaw locks visibly, baring her teeth to express her displeasure.

"What are we talking about?" Young Master continues to feign innocence.

"Don't talk to me like that!" Mr. William snarls. "You're just a girl," he scoffs. "You know nothing! Michaelis, tell me, is there another demon here?" For a single second, Sebastian hesitates, before answering. No doubt would Ciel recognize his low timbre.

"No. I assure you, there's only one demon in this room."

He observes his Young Master's expressions. Shock. Surprise. Confusion. Recognition (by now, Sebastian has no doubt that the wise boy has at least figured something out right now, perhaps, even the contract, if he's willing to go that far-fetched.) Fear. Then. Settling upon his Young Master's visage, was one expression that Sebastian has never encountered to this limit.

Then there was rage.

* * *

Questions bubble up, yet, Elizabeth manages to hide her curiosity. They're all currently hiding, engulfed by darkness, shrouded by silence. By now, Elizabeth's doubting the danger of this threat, after all, there's no other sounds, no other voices, nothing that currently indicates 'danger, don't move!' or anything along those lines. "I think we're okay." Elizabeth peeps, her voice distinguishable in the uncanny silence, and for once, she keeps her voice barely above a whisper, as her voice should clearly be heard over...over well, nothing. "Yeah, I think we're good," her voice, which earlier, jumped an octave higher from fear, slowly lowers into its regular pitch.

"Sebastian must've taken care of it," Bard's rough timbre sounds around the left to her. A loud thud rattles Elizabeth, and she shrieks, along with other yelps from the sudden noise. _"Ah shi-"_ Bard releases a string of curses. Suddenly, light beams down upon them, revealing the cook clutching his foot, cussing next to a metal cart piled with grimy dishes, implying that he smashed his toe against the metal item. The light above grows brighter, and Elizabeth glances up, staring at the source of the light, which are just narrow lamps swinging beside pots and pans hung by hooks attached to another kitchen device.

"Ah, it hurts..." Bard hisses, grinding his teeth together.

"Well, now that it's safe, I suggest we go check up on Young Master," Mey-Rin suggests, readjusting her round glasses. Elizabeth questions why the maid is so intent on wearing glasses, when the lenses seem close to shattering from the damage inflicted upon them.

"That's right, Ciel!" Elizabeth's mind strays from the thought of glasses and towards her beloved fiance. "We have to go find him!" Elizabeth is quite sure that Ciel is safe, judging by Sebastian's care and how the staff doesn't seem as concerned about her fiance's wellbeing right now, probably because his faithful butler took care of it. Somehow.

"Hurry!" Elizabeth whines, waiting for the staff to catch up as she hitches the lower part of her frilly dress-making sure that the edge is still below the ankle-and begins to run in the direction of Ciel's bedroom.

* * *

That...no...

Anger ignites within Ciel, as the husky voice from Michaelis alarms familiarity within Ciel's mind. How could he- _"You said that you'd always be by my side!"_ Ciel snarls, the words ripping, clawing their way out of his throat. He clenches the folds of his crumpled blanket, his fist flushing from the tightness. _"You said that you'd_ never lie to me!"His words hitches in his throat as he resists shouting. Ciel actually thought...no matter how much he knows he's fooling himself, he and his butler actually enjoyed each other's company. What about those little banters? Those insults that are usually directed towards his height? What about throwing vases at each other?

"I never lied to you." Sebastian finally steps out of the dark corner beside his door. Oh, yes, he's slightly different, his appearance, however, he's still identifiable as Sebastian.

"Wait, Sebastian?"

"You know what, I'll deal with you later, kill them!" Ciel snaps, thrusting his finger towards the two family relatives, staring back at him, wide-eyed.

"As you wish."

Perhaps this might seem incredibly wrong to say so, however, the sight of Sebastian thrusting his clawed arm towards Anastasi causes pleasure to run through him, as Anastasi is unable to react properly with a scream before Sebastian disembowls her easily, by snapping her head straight off her damn neck. Blood spurts out, probably blemishing his carpet, however, Ciel's enjoying this moment, and even his lush carpet being stained mauve cannot dampen this episode. Perhaps he really is quite crazy, a physcopath-maybe.

"M-Michael..." Mr. William stammers. "You obey me! You pro-"

"Whoever's seal is more visible, the stronger his power is. You chosen to imprint it upon your leg, however, Young Master's mark is directly seared onto his eye." And just like that, a crazy rush of thrill causes a grin of a madman to stretch across Ciel's visage as with one fluid movement, Sebastian ends Mr. William's pathetic life by protruding his arm through Mr. William's chest, and the crimson blood gushes out, speckling Sebastian's suit. "I thought I made that quite clear," he ends coldly, retracting his arm drenched with blood. Clearly his arm's sleeve will end up stiff and it'll be quite troublesome to remove the blood off his suit.

"Done," Sebastian smiles, rounding to Ciel. However, the moment his butler flashes his stupid smile, the pleasure instantly deflates within Ciel, and the anger that was extinguished earlier from the said pleasure, reignites.

 _"That doesn't excuse what you've done._ Why...why were you Mr. William's butler?" Ciel snarls. "And...he was working with my kidnappers, yet-" by now, Ciel's tone grows in volume, his voice raspy and hoarse as he continues to scream at his butler, pouring the feelings of betrayal, horror, and stress into his words as he direct them towards his fucking butler. _"You still worked with him!"_

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware he was your kidnapper until later, besides, I figured you wouldn't mind as long as I continue to serve you loyally," Sebastian says animatedly, his voice indifferent and calm compared to Ciel's cracking voice. Does he really not care? Does his butler really think that everything will end up the way it will before? With the same trusting bond between them? "I was never going to let him hurt you." He promises. "And I never lied to you. I don't lie."

That may be true. Sebastian does not lie, and Ciel's aware of that. But that doesn't exclude the option of not telling him everything. Ciel stares down at his clenched fists, struggling to force a passive expression upon his face, before looking up, yet, he cannot clap eyes with his butler. With an indifferent, blank expression, he finally says: "Okay. I understand. You may leave."

No.

Nothing will ever be the same, except for the anger burning deep into his unfeeling heart. If only his butler can actually die and never come back. Maybe, for the first time within the period of time shared with his butler, does he wish he never took the contract.

Who was he fooling anyways, other than himself? Did he really believe that out of any sort of creature-that a demon, a _demon_ , a fallen angel, could actually be trustworthy?

Perhaps finding another person to have a contract with isn't unreasonable. It's actually forgivable. But Mr. William was a kidnapper. He was part of the group that took everything away from him. While, yes, Sebastian actually did good today, he actually helped, and perhaps redeemed himself, Ciel has a feeling that he can never bring himself to ever confide anything with his butler.

As Sebastian exits the room, leaving Ciel and two corpses in a vast room, Ciel wonders how victorious would it be if he ended up dying, and Sebastian never got his soul. That'd deeply anger Sebastian, no matter how unfair it is. However, Ciel goes against that idea, he doesn't want to die, and besides, it's not worth it.

* * *

Sebastian admits, this might've been a mistake. For the rest of the week, Ciel refuses to talk to him, refuses to even order him, and hasn't fixated eyes with him. While Sebastian is conscious of the fact that really, he was loyal to Ciel even towards his other master, yet, he's still a young boy, and a human. Now, humans are quite troublesome, always set back by their feelings. Even Ciel, someone that Sebastian wouldn't think would allow personal feelings to get in the way unless if it's Elizabeth or any one of his staff, he's deadbeat towards Sebastian after his subtle betrayal. Okay, maybe it's not as subtle as Sebastian described, however, he cannot help but find this situation slightly unfair, yet, he can also sympathize with the Young Master.

Silently, Sebastian continues to "help" which is basically do all the work alone and have Bard stand to the side furiously, on dinner, for the Young Master. He appears regularly, to eat dinner, lunch, and breakfast that Sebastian prepared, yet, other than that, he usually just locks himself in his room.

Now, he really did underestimate the consequence of bonding a contract with Mr. William.

What a disaster. Sebastian grimaces as he begins to fry the fish inside the pan heating on the stove.

* * *

Do you think that this chapter matches up? Or should I redo this one?

And this is not ending, I will continue this. This is definitely not the end. I'm not that lazy.


	5. Chapter 5

I own nothing of Black Butler

And um. I guess if you want me to add something, just review!

"Ciel," the said boy faces his gardener. "Why aren't you and Sebastian talking?" Rather than answering, he flips to the next page of his book. If even the most oblivious, ignorant idiot out of his staff can notice the sudden distance he put between himself and Sebastian that means he probably hadn't talked to him in a while. Suddenly intrigued by this, Ciel places down a book mark to indicate which page he left off, before snapping it shut.

When was the last time he had a decent, regular argument with Sebastian? Nearly a month ago, is his guess. Nearly a month ago, he learned Sebastian's been filling out the occupation of a traitor, and helping out another master. Ciel feels as though it's forgivable, however, if that person happens to be part of a group that burned his mansion along with attack his family, leaving him all alone with only his grandfather, he finds himself unable to even clap eyes with this demon. "Lizzy told me to become friends with Sebastian again," Finny adds. Oh. That makes much more sense; after all, Ciel highly doubted that Finny, his dimwitted gardener would notice anything without anyone dropping hints, so for Lizzy to point this out, clears a lot up. "Why are you guys mad?"

"Finny," Ciel sighs. "Please stay out of this. It's none of your concern. Now, go back to dest-trimming," he hastily stammers to correct his choice of words. "The flowers," he finishes. To emphasis how he's ending this conversation, he leaves the chair of his small table set out on the patio, with his book set underneath his arm, before heading back into the mansion.

"Young Master." He knots his lips as the sound of the demon's voice, and he's unable to turn around, as though his feet are melded to the carpet beneath him.

"Yes?" He replies through grinding teeth, training his eyes on the laces of his boots. He fiddles with the bookmark that peeks through the stack of paper wrapped into one book.

Ciel is unable to resist stiffening, at the sound of muffled footsteps. A man in black steps around him, and in front of him, to face him, and Ciel is now determined to create his shoe laces into a source of entertainment for his eyes, as he refuses to peer upwards to face the demon. Of course, some might find it odd or humiliating for a master to not stare into the eye of his butler when barking a demand, but Ciel finds this as a way to express his coldness and anger towards Sebastian. "Queen Victoria is hoping that you won't mind as she wants you to throw a midnight party at your mansion, with some specific people for you to invite." The young boy is not fond of company nor crowds, so he's sure for his list of guests to be short. Besides, rarely anyone knows that the current owner of the Phantomhive Company is an almost thirteen year old boy. After all, this sort of information can tarnish his reputation, then again, as long as people continue to know him as cold and demanding, he'll be quite find with that.

"Okay."

"Would you like me to prepare the mansion and invites? This party is to be held tomorrow." _Tomorrow?_ Ciel fights down a scowl; Queen Victoria must be displeased about failing to retrieve the stolen kids from the carnival, despite it being almost more than half a year ago. (I don't care if this doesn't fit the actual timeline. We're going with this.)

Ciel nods mutely, and the sound of footsteps growing distant alerts Ciel that it's okay for him to look up. He twists his lips into a leer at the back of his butler who's walking away down the hall. Then, he halts, standing still, as though he knows that Ciel is currently trying to see if it's possible for looks to kill, and that he's testing that on him. "And Ciel," he raises an eyebrow at the sudden call out. "You're still at me, right?" Oh. Bristling, the boy clenches onto his book, and doesn't reply. The demon wheels around on his heels, facing the boy from the other end of the hall. "I'm sorry."

Ciel knows for a fact the demon doesn't feel. He doesn't have any emotions. He might regret it, but he would never understand how much it hurt Ciel because he worked for the other side.

Sebastian politely smiles as the first guest arrives. He was sure to prepare everything to the master's liking, polished and sophisticated. Against a wall of the ballroom are tables with refreshments equally placed apart on the ivory table cloth, along with rather exquisite wine placed to the side. "Thank you," Sebastian nods in acknowledgment, sure to keep this professional, as he leads the beautiful woman inside.

Soon, just about majority of the guests are

* * *

"already conversing and talking, however, the main invited man has yet to arrive. Sighing at this unfortunate delay, he begins to pour glasses of wine, and carefully balance them on a platter, and begin to walk around the ballroom, serving them. It's quite rude for the man to not come as expected of him, with or without excuse. Besides, it's thundering quite hard outside, Sebastian begins to question whether or not the guest of honor will arrive without accident.

Oh, apparently he does.

Ciel remains in his room, close enough where the ballroom is located, listening to the words of the guests. Pretty soon, they're presenting themselves, as though it's some sort of competition of whose name is higher, as their names are often bound to status. How childish. However, rather quietly, he slips out of his room, peering down at the untrammeled subjects. Already, Irene is introducing herself, along with her current lover, who he has no interest in learning. However, the one person he's actually intent on meeting, is there, sitting by himself, looking quite self-conscious, peering down at his glass of wine. He's fidgeting within his seat, every second or so he'd look back up, observing his surroundings. Then, to his pleasure and amusement, Lao approaches the shy man. He nestles farther against the vertical wooden bars of the banister of the stairs down to the ballroom, hoping to pick up on his words.

 _"Yeah, no, the young Phantomhive is quite a grumpy and harsh man."_ Ciel rolls his eyes at Lao's selective choice of words, and how the author he invited seem to squirm underneath his supposed description, clearly misreading his words, and probably creating a mental image of what he thinks he is like. _"And he always wears an eyepatch, from what I heard-he never,_ never, _takes it off._ " Lies. Ciel often removes his eyepatch whenever heading to bathe.

"Telling lies about me again?" Ciel finally reveals himself, glaring over the edge of the banister. The author blinks, probably startled by Ciel's real image.

"Oh, and did I mention he's really short?" Lao smiles nastily. Ciel resists from tossing his cane over at him.

* * *

Murdered. Brutally stabbed in the chest. Their guest of honor, Georg von Siemens, slumped in a room, locked from the inside, along with drool dribbling out his unhinged jaw, onto the laceration created across his body. And Ciel is the one suspect, being without any other witnesses to see him head to bed, is the only one to sneak off without anyone else to realize.

"After all, Ciel is the only here who wasn't under the watch of anyone other than his staff, who will obviously cover for their young master, wouldn't he?" Lao smirks.

Bastard.

* * *

Wow. Surprisingly, this all happened within a night. All of this. It began with basically just about everyone awkwardly crowding around him, with a layer of suspicion underneath. Then, hoping to eliminate Ciel as a suspect, as planned by his butler, by first, shackling him along with the author he invited, christened Author, on a bed, to ensure that he doesn't escape and 'murder' another random guest.

Then, this is when Ciel sacrificed his dignity, however, he also gets to burn all his anger out on Sebastian's supposedly dead body. Basically, Sebastian was attacked, from what Ciel learned, and probably decided to play dead in the kitchen. Stupid butler. Getting blood all over his kitchen floor with a damn poker punctured through his stomach. Hot anger flared throughout him as he yanked the wrought iron out of his butler's stomach, and startling all the guests, he jammed it straight back in. He's supposed to act angry, shocked, and sad, like a regular young kid would at the face of a dead, close, person. He feels as though he surpassed that, using his ignorance towards Sebastian the past few days and the anger that stirred within as fuel. Then, there's also another guest, who also stains his carpet red later.

In complete honesty, now that Sebastian is supposedly dead, Ciel begins to question him and Sebastian's current sadistic relationship. He does admittedly miss taunting his demon, and it did feel nice to relax with a person who understands his situation, and perhaps...perhaps...he was slightly overreacting towards Sebastian. However, he's currently too proud to confess so.

Then, Sebastian, masked as a detective that Ciel called over, with a perfect alibi, to help continue this little mystery. He continued to act professional between them, refusing to communicate anything with him other than about their next move. Author also unknowingly helped, by creating a chart about who could possibly kill any one of the three dead people. So far, only Ciel is possible to kill Georg, so now, they're suspecting a small cult in their group, a little circle that's picking off the guests one by one. How niave. They should've realized that if he hasn't publicly revealed his visage and rarely anyone's aware that a young boy is the remaining current Phantomhive, he would certainly not gang up with a clearly unorganized group to kill people within his _own house_.

Now, it's true that by now, Sebastian probably knows who the killer is. However, Ciel doesn't feel like inquiring for an answer from his demon, no matter how bored he is, and how the curiosity inside is beginning to gnaw on his insides. So he continues. By now, they decided to blame all the murders upon the rich man who works with jewels and precious gems, Karl Woodely, and also a diamond trader. How? Ciel's unsure. By now, they're ready to capture the thief. Of course, Sebastian has an idea, he always does, even though Ciel never asked.

"Now," Sebastian begins, however, to the others, he's known as the detective Jeremy Rathbone. "To capture our killer, we need a little cooperation from Ciel." Ciel sputters upon his drink, however, refusing to spit out the hot liquid out in front of his guests, he swallows the scalding tea, blinking away the tears that bead up from the sudden hot liquid rushing down his throat.

Pulling Ciel away from the guests, Sebastian bends down in front of him. "What?" Ciel snaps hastily, his voice lowered so that only the two can hear. "You never said anything about this. But whatever, let's just do it," he has no question that Sebastian would ever put him in danger, as he wants his deserving soul.

"Do you trust me?" Ciel blinks, startled by his sudden question.

"Why don't you ask yourself?" Ciel scowls. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Then why don't you answer it?" While his last question caught Ciel off guard, however, this time, Ciel, though thoroughly prepared to answer, is unable to answer it so easily. A leer graces Sebastian's face. "Ah, don't tell me that my little mistake really shake you that much?" In response, Ciel quickly shakes his head. "Then why don't you _answer it?"_

"I do." He's unsure whether or not he believes in his own words, and judging by the look Sebastian gives him as he rises back onto his feet, he doesn't either.

Okay, so maybe Sebastian is willing to put him in danger. Then again, a month ago, he did indirectly lead him into a crossfire between his two masters. What a difficult life.

* * *

I am not done with this story yet.

If the last part didn't make sense, there's this part, where Ciel invites a bunch of guests into his manor, and then, suddenly, three people die, and blah blah blah, sebastian 'dies', Ciel has a 'meltdown' over him, and yeah, they basically try and you try and solve this mystery. I know that they have this on anime, but I don't know if this is included within the actual seasons, maybe it's like a side-thing.


End file.
